the causes of things, the ways of nature, the reason of the universe, the counsel of God, the mysteries of heaven and earth Continue reading
Category Archives: Civilization
Sex and Liberation
Vico identifies three customs of all nations: religion, marriage, funerals, which are reinforced by religious practices. Otherwise, the world would return to a brutish state and again become a wilderness. Continue reading
The Lutheran Reformation
It’s October, and I am thinking, inexorably, of the Protestant Reformation, where my spiritual roots lie. In order to do those roots justice (it does no good to saw them in two), I have to understand the contention made against the Church of the West, the Latin Roman Catholic Church. … Continue reading
Le Bateleur, or Thus Endeth the Lesson
I will assume, for this, a basic familiarity with the text, as well as perhaps some of the items and discussions on the mailing list. Rather, we will look at several prisms or aphorisms or anecdotes from this chapter, to help elucidate in precise detail what quarry Tomberg is hunting. … Continue reading
The Twelfth and Final Labor
Cerberus We have finally arrived at the last leg of the journey in the Dodekathalon. Hercules is given a final test, as he “cheated” on two of the earlier ones, and this one is meant, not to test his mettle, but to ruin and destroy him. There is a chance, … Continue reading
Restoration, Revival, Renaissance
The order of these nouns is deliberate. Secular humanists desire to have the last without either of the first two, particularly and most insistently, the first. Christians are generally unconcerned or even aware of the first, & if it is brought to their attention, they become truculent. The third also … Continue reading
Endgame
When one begins to experience the full effect of the “Times” we live in, it becomes obvious that there are a multitude of factors at work. Cologero has pointed out the increasing complexity and speed of events in the Kali Yuga. Although at first and superficial glance this would strike … Continue reading
Hercules’ Seventh Triumph
As I have argued, Hercules has decisively “come into his own”: he has achieved the unstated goal of the classical polis, which was to become an Aristotelian unequal. He is not yet equal to gods, but he no longer lives under mortal law, because he has suffered its stroke, and … Continue reading
On Job and Suffering
On Job and Suffering There never was, and never will be a place on earth free from sorrows. The only sorrow-less place possible is in the heart, when the Lord is present there. – St Nikon of Optima I. Introduction Job in the Bible is a powerful text. It can … Continue reading
The Labors of Hercules, Part 5
The Augean Stables Hercules does not go immediately into action or battle, following his insult from the gods: Hera’s madness that causes him to murder his own offspring is the “fall” or primordial condition of sinful man who is an enemy to himself and his own kith/kin, let alone everyone … Continue reading